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Netflix Dumps HD DVD. Blu Ray Only

Netflix informed customers that it will no longer be adding HD DVD's to it's inventory. Towards the end of February 08 (this month) any 'saved' DVD's in the customer's queue will be changed to standard DVD' s after that.

Existing HD DVD's will apparently be available 'for the next several months'.

This seems odd since I can't imagine the HD DVD's aren't still generating profit in a national rental environment and would for quite some time considering the amount of hardware in the marketplace. I just saw stats showing that HD DVD 'preferred' accounts with Netflix GREATLY outdistance the Blu Ray preferred accounts.

But, regardless of their motives, and regardless if Sony might've sent some cash their way, I'd say there is no recovery from this. As bleak as it looked already... this just took a .45 and put it to the head of the bleeding, battered, and barely breathing body of the HD DVD format.

-Bball

Nuntius was right. I was wrong. Frank Vogel has retained his job.

------

"A player who makes a team great is more valuable than a great player. Losing yourself in the group, for the good of the group, that’s teamwork."

Re: Netflix Dumps HD DVD. Blu Ray Only

They should have a fire sale on all the HD-DVD's that are out in the market or in the supply pipeline as of now....Give all the losers who bought the HD decks a chance to make some cash back by getting to buy titles for $1 each.

But that, of course, would be taking cash away from the Blu-Ray market. Now everybody gets to go replace their boat anchor decks AND restock their entire library that they were already upgrading from standard format to HD DVD.

Glad I didn't jump on a bandwagon yet, and my condolences to all those who didn't choose wisely.

Re: Netflix Dumps HD DVD. Blu Ray Only

Well... that 'loser' would be me...

I bought one of the 98.00 HD DVD decks in November. I thought I could potentially be backing a loser in the end.... I didn't think it would happen this quickly though. If anything, I thought the price drop would lengthen the battle if not tip it in HD DVD's favor.

I will say the Toshiba does a much better job of upconverting regular DVD's than the Samsung it replaced.

-Bball

Nuntius was right. I was wrong. Frank Vogel has retained his job.

------

"A player who makes a team great is more valuable than a great player. Losing yourself in the group, for the good of the group, that’s teamwork."

Re: Netflix Dumps HD DVD. Blu Ray Only

I thought that might be the case after I posted it, but I forgot to go back and edit my post! You aren't a loser. You're a technological wonder who makes the investment to stay on the cutting edge! Sometimes that investment pays off, and sometimes it doesn't. This time it didn't.

Doesn't mean you aren't cool.

There, did that help your self-esteem? I hope so. It will be a decade before I buy a new dvd player. Feel good about yourself!

Re: Netflix Dumps HD DVD. Blu Ray Only

I got my first dvd player when Cast Away was released on DVD. I only remember that because that was the first dvd I owned, and The Matrix was a close second. I would say sometime in 2000.....

That first one took a dump and I bought a dvd player that was also a dvd recorder after that, and that took a dump and I now have a third standard dvd player. I have nothing that plays either of the HD versions of dvd's....

I was being totally serious to Bball, not being sarcastic...I normally pay the price to stay on the cutting edge also; my two early Pentium 4's and Ipod Touch attest to that...I hadn't made the leap to either hd dvd or blu-ray because I couldn't justify having to upgrade my entire dvd catalog as yet. Given that I download a lot of dvd-r's and burn them, or use netflix to acquire new titles, I'm still not ready to make the leap.

Had I made the purchase of a new hd dvd player, I probably would've went with HD-DVD also and been in the same boat.

Maybe I need to just get a PS3?! (The wife would kill me, I own two XBox's right now...)

Re: Netflix Dumps HD DVD. Blu Ray Only

Really, taking a $100 flyer on a technology that didn't pan out isn't too bad, really. I'm thinking of the poor *******s who went with HD-DVD the first day possible, and likely invested closer to a grand on their deck.

Also, this is rough news for the 360. Since they don't use their HD-DVD player to play games on, it's essentially becoming a $200 paperweight, and further, it really makes it so that the PS3 really does finally offer something that the 360 doesn't, which is a continuing library of HD movies. I don't know how much of a true impact it will have in the console war, as most people buy them for the games, not the multimedia experience, but it at least gives Sony something to hang their hat on going forward.

I almost wonder if in the future you won't see a 360 model that comes with a Blu-Ray player built in so that Microsoft can keep Sony from having any sort of edge.